You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. There she was preparing for her comeback record in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for a decade, riding high. Then in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The record, her latest release, was intended as an open book, tackling every moment of pain she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicide) with her usual frankness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Later follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly dealing with the disease. Four weeks after she went public, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photo studio in the capital. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and big frames. Think motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Jessie is fast-thinking, bold and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show next year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I frequently joke about the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was getting ready for an performance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then Cornish had assured herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. During crises you go on a gurney, but now I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy recently and my one side now appears as a odd shape.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s used to health crises. They have often coincided with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her childhood, already beginning performing in the stage in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and teenage Jess has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
